The on-court woes never seem to end for Naomi Osaka. The Japanese star has struggled for form this year, making early exits at the tournaments. Particularly, her form in big events has been worrisome, as Osaka has slid to No. 49 in the WTA rankings. She is currently in Montreal, where she is participating in the National Bank Open. The Japanese star is up against Liudmila Samsonova in the second round, and Osaka faced three match points against her in the second set. Amid a shocking display, fans took out their frustration against her.

Osaka began the match poorly as her opponent completely dominated the proceedings. Subsequently, Samsonova took the first set comfortably, 6-4. Further, the second set was a keenly fought affair and went into the tiebreaker. However, the Japanese star faced three match points and nearly lost the match. She held her nerves and came back strongly to win the second set 7-6 (6). Eventually, Osaka carried the momentum into the third set and wrapped the match by winning it 6-3. Despite her comeback win, fans weren’t happy with Osaka’s display today.

The fans’ frustration was also due to Osaka’s failure at Grand Slam tournaments this year. In the recently concluded Wimbledon Championships, she lost in the third round against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. This came after her first-round exit at the French Open. Earlier, she had also exited the Australian Open in the third round. As a result, fans made their feelings felt about Osaka’s performances.

Fans slam Naomi Osaka for poor display

Early on in the match today, Osaka looked down and out from the beginning. She made several unforced errors, which cost her the games in the opening set. As a result, one fan said, “Has Naomi Osaka lost the drive to win? She has no intensity.” The fan wasn’t happy that a 4-time Grand Slam champion like her was performing so badly.

Similarly, another social media user found the reason behind her lack of intensity. It was Osaka’s body language that reflected poorly in today’s match, and the fan wrote, “Naomi Osaka’s body language is so bad. I swear sometimes you’d think she’s lost the match before it already started.” The fan had no hope from her, although she came back strongly to win the match. Further, one of the fans couldn’t watch Osaka play due to her error-prone game of late. “I’m so tired of her joining these tournaments,” the fan wrote, as he didn’t want to see Osaka at the tournaments.

On the other hand, one of the fans gave Osaka a harsh reality check as Samsonova was dominating the match early on. With retirement rumors swirling, a fan suggested that Osaka retire. The fan wrote, “Naomi Osaka getting dog walked by Samsonova should be enough for her to realise she should just retire now.” However, Osaka’s comeback victory was enough to prove the fan wrong and trash the retirement talks for now. Similarly, another fan revealed why Osaka should call it a day, saying, “Naomi Osaka can you retire and save yourself the embarrassment?” At 27, Osaka still has many years left before she thinks about retiring from the sport.

With Osaka completing a thrilling win over Samsonova, hopes have reignited about her good performance in Montreal. She will next face the winner of the match between Jelena Ostapenko and Renata Zarazua.